Lover in the Darkness
by 4EverOrNever
Summary: Detective Naruto Uzumaki has lead a good life, until he is put on case with the seductive and beautiful, Ino Yamanaka. Every time she smiles, Naruto fells his breath being stolen. Set in modern day Konoha, will Naruto and Ino be able to stop the cop-killing psychopath before its too late? Or will they die trying? sexual themes and cursing. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End**

Dancing. Everyone was dancing and laughing and smiling. They finally did it, they took down the killer. It was time to celebrate, it was time to drink, it was time to laugh, and most importantly, it was time to finally let himself fall in love.

Naruto laughed with his friends, each one congratulating him, giving him a pat on the back and a 'job well done' speech. He'd even earned an award. He didn't care about any of those though. He only had one thought on his mind: the woman that he planned to kiss and ravish tonight.

His best friend Sasuke even gave him a smile and light pat on the back, something that doesn't happen much for the Uchiha. It was at that moment that Naruto saw her, she had just walked out of the elegant golden elevator at the front of the room with a bunch of other women. She saw him and made her way to the staircase leading to the dance floor.

She was gorgeous. Her dress clung to her perfectly, showing every curve and every outline of her strong body. It had a long slit down the side of her thigh and diamonds beneath her breasts which wrapped around to cross her back. Of course she would wear red, knowing her she did it to tease him. She knows how sexy he thinks red is on her. His jaw dropped and she smiled at him as she began to walk down the broad stairway.

Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. Breath taking. He has so many words and descriptions going through his head of how elegant and ravishing she looks, but none of them seem to fully define her. They all lack something important, no words could ever come close to describing how alluring she was at the moment. Especially when she smiled, even from this distance, Naruto could see the twinkle in her eyes.

God, she was absolutely beautiful.

He made his way towards her, picking his jaw up and turning it into a smirk, ready to say some witty comment and listen to her laugh. Her laugh was music to his ears, soft and happy, full of passion and kindness.

She finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, after what felt like an eternity of having his breath stolen, he smiled and opened his mouth at the same time she did, but nothing ever left his mouth as a loud bang sounded throughout the room and he felt a hot white pain pierce his chest and the last thing he saw was her scream and run towards him.

Naruto Uzumaki's body hit the floor with a loud thud as the room progressed into the perfect chaos.

 **3 Months Earlier**

"Today is a new day," Naruto told himself as he stared into his porcelain blue eyes in the mirror, "New city, new people, new house, new life. Today things start to get better. Got it, Uzumaki? No more sulking around." Exiting the bathroom, Naruto grabbed a cup from his cabinet and poured hot black coffee into it. Taking a large gulp he sighed and moved to grab his dark navy blue suit jacket from across the top of his chair to complete his outfit consisting of matching slacks, a white button up, and black tie.

Stepping into the early morning fog, Naruto took in a big breath. He lived towards the edge of the Konoha so he could get away from the smell factories and sewers brought. All he smelled around here was fresh trees and water. It was a beautiful sight, clear view of the mountain, a creek nearby, and the fog made it enchanting. He started his 2008 Audi A4 and pulled away from the small cozy house he'd be calling his home from now on. Konoha was a large town, it had quite a few housing complexes, a mall, a few parks here and there, and some big factories and buildings; including the Konoha Police Department, which is where he was headed now. It was his first day of work as Special Agent Supervisor of homicide Naruto Uzumaki, or in shorter terms, Lieutenant Naruto.

It's about a 20 minute drive from Naruto's new home to the department, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous the whole way there. So it wasn't unexpected when he stayed in his car an extra couple of minutes to collect his thoughts. ' _Big breaths Naruto. This is the beginning of something good._ ' Entering the building, Naruto was greeted by a shy young women with long dark hair. She smiled up at him and asked: "H- hello, sir. I-is there anything I can h-help you with?" she blushed and stuttered.

"Uh, yes. Please, Ms.-"he glanced at the name tag sitting on her desk, "Hyuuga. Could you point me in the direction of the Chiefs office? Special Agent Supervisor Naruto Uzumaki." He replied as he showed her his shiny new badge.

She glanced at his badge and her eyes widened slightly in recognition, "Oh! You're the n-new guy! It's nice to m-meet you. I'm Hinata. T-the Chiefs office is down that hall," she pointed to her left, "first door on the left."

"Thank you, Hinata." He smiled as he made his way to the Chiefs office. On the door, the sign read: _Chief Tsunade Senju._ Knocking on the door, he heard a shout from the inside to enter. "Chief Tsunade? Naruto Uzumaki, I just transferred here." The woman looked to be in her late 30's or early 40's. She had two long blonde pigtails and she was wearing a extremely revealing green shirt.

Tsunade barely glanced in his direction before yelling out the door, "Kakashi!"

Another head poked it's way in the door, he looked to be in his late 20's, early 30's with a messy mop of gray hair. His face was covered with a mask and an eye patch only exposing his right eye. He looked like a mummy in Naruto's opinion. "Yes Chief?" His voice was low and calm.

"Naruto, this is Captain Kakashi. He's in charge of the homicide unit. Meaning; besides me, he's your boss. Show him around, Kakashi." And with a wave of her hand, Naruto and Kakashi were sent out of the room.

"She's not always like that. She has a lot of stress and pressure on her at the moment. This case is taking a lot out of her." Kakashi finally said after they were down the hall, on their way to the locker room. "This is the locker room, you can keep your stuff here."

"Thanks, I already planned on that." Naruto replied sarcastically, "But, are you referring to the Erickson case? Five cops dead, beginning with Sakura Haruno and ending with Noah Fairweather?"

Kakashi looked at him and blinked, "Yes. We requested you for that case, you know. You're in charge. You'll get to meet your partner later. She's a feisty one that charges in guns blazing and fists swinging. I think you'll like her."

"Great. Back to that case, anything I need to know?"He asked as Kakashi led him to a small cut off room with a couple other cops chatting.

"This is the break room. We always have coffee because only God knows how much caffeine we're going to need to make it through the day. The case, hmmm, you already know the targets are cops. So far that's our only lead. Men and women, different police stations within a 20 mile radius. It's been going on for nearly four months now and we still have squat. We don't know the killers motives. Not even a list of suspects. So whoever this guy is, he's hiding really fucking good."

"Not even a list of suspects, huh?"

"I saw your record, I'm hoping you'll be able to find some more strings to connect. You're good Uzumaki, no question about it."

After the short tour of the station, Kakashi waled towards a group of guys in the break room, following him, Naruto gave one of his winning grins. "Naruto, these are some of your coworkers," he began, "Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji. Guys, this is Naruto. I expect you to treat him nicely." And with that, Kakashi left with a strange grin on his face and an orange book in his hands.

"Hi. I'm Naruto. I just transferred here." Naruto smiled.

A guy with messy brown hair and a huge ass grin on his face was the first to speak, "Hey, man. Kiba Inuzuka. Special Investigations sergeant."

"Neji Hyuuga. Inuzuka's partner." Neji has long black hair tied in the back and he doesn't seem like the smiling type.

"Choji Akimichi. Air support sergeant." A chubby guy with light brown hair smiled.

The next guy had dark brown hair tied in a messy ponytail, he looked tired and bored, "Shikamaru Nara. Air support lieutenant. I'm Choji's partner." he yawned.

The last guy was creepier than Kakashi. He had his hood pulled over his face, was wearing a face mask, and sunglasses. Who does that? Wears sunglasses inside. It's just weird! "Shino Aburame. I am a cop because i have always wanted to be a cop, ever since i was little. Why did i want to be a cop? I don't really know. But-" He was cut off by Kiba who laughed and said something along the lines of 'Fucking weirdo.'

Turning to Naruto, he smiled, "We're going to the bar in a bit. Wan't to join us mate?"

Smiling back, Naruto replied, "Sure. A drink sounds pretty damn good right about now."

* * *

At the bar, Naruto was laughing with the guys he just met. They all seemed okay, Kiba was funny and he could see himself being good friends with him, Shikamaru seemed to be asleep, Choji laughed and got a word in here and there, Shino was quiet and again, kind of creepy, and Neji seemed to have a stick up his ass the whole time. But all in all, it was a good night.

"So whats the last case you worked?" Kiba asked him.

Naruto gulped, not expecting him to ask about his previous cases. "Well, I've been taking a break the past month, but before that, i was doing this case where a woman was killed over her necklace. Turned out to be the neighbor. It's sad, wouldn't you say? That humans will kill other humans over something as insignificant as money? The people left behind from a murder, the loved ones, i mean, they have nothing left for them. They just sit there and try to figure out what they did wrong, how they could've prevented it from happening, why it happened. It's just... sad."Naruto took a large gulp of his whiskey.

"Yeah, I get that completely." Kiba also took a large gulp of his beverage. "Alright, man, I've got to get going. Can't worry my dog, Akumaru, too much. You gonna be all good on your own?"

"On my own?" Naruto looked around the table and noticed that the others had already left. When did that happen? "Oh, right. Yeah, man, i'm just going to finish my drink and head out too. Ill see you tomorrow." With a smile, Kiba turned and walked out of the bar.

Looking around the bar, Naruto noticed a pair of light blue eyes staring at him. Standing, the blue eyes walked towards him, every step was seductive and full of promise for pleasure. Pink glossed lips, long wavy blonde hair. She had an hour glass figure. A tight dress that showed enough to be sexy, and kept hidden the parts Naruto really wanted to see. She smiled at him as she reached the table and bent over, revealing her big creamy white skin covered breasts. She was beautiful, Naruto could definitely agree on that.

"Hey, handsome," she purred, "Whatcha doing over here all by yourself? Need some company?"

Naruto didn't release his stare from hers, "I was actually about to leave."

"Awe," she pouted, "I was hoping we could talk for a little bit. What's a girl got to do to get a handsome man to notice her around here?"

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Is it working?" She smiled all glossy lips and dazzling eyes.

"Yes."

She laughed, "Wanna get out of here? I'm tired of this place anyways, everyone here is a fucking loser."

Naruto stood from his spot at the table, "Okay."

The woman walked up to him and pressed herself up against his body. He could feel her breath on his lips, all he could think about was peppermint. This woman smelt like peppermint. He wondered if she tasted like it too. "Lead the way, hot stuff." she breathed.

She grabbed his hand and Naruto showed her the way to his car. They talked on the way to Naruto's house, just small things. He never learned her name, when he asked she would just smile and say something along the lines of 'it doesn't matter.' They talked about the summer time and the hot air and flowers it brings, the winter and the white snow, building snowmen and throwing snowballs. They talked about where they grew up, while Naruto only just moved here, she had lived here her whole life.

The woman was charming, intelligent, funny, sarcastic, and seductive. But when they pulled up to Naruto's house, talk time was over. Stepping out of the car, the woman grabbed Naruto by the tie and roughly pressed her mouth to his. he reciprocated with just as much power and ferocity. Lip tugging, hair pulling, neck nipping, and swollen lips occurred. It felt like forever they were battling one another with their tongues, but it was probably only five minutes. Pulling away for air, Naruto unlocked his door in time for the woman to be tugging his shirt up and over his head.

Leading her to the bedroom, the woman roughly shoved him onto the bed. She stripped her dress off and stood in all her naked glory. Of course the woman was without panties or a bra. But she damn sure was a sight for Naruto to behold. She was breath taking. Climbing her way onto Naruto she kissed his lips once more before moving down to nibble on his neck. Naruto let out a loud groan, and she smiled at him. "You're hot when you make that noise. Lets see if i can get you to do it again."

Before she could get her lips on his neck again, Naruto flipped them. He was now on top pinning the woman beneath him. Pressing his lips to hers in a bruising kiss he shoved his tongue in her mouth, exploring and dominating her. Sucking her and making her pant and moan into his mouth. He could feel the growing budge in his pants and had no doubt she could too, but by the was she was shivering and moaning beneath him, she was soaking and excited.

Naruto let his hand roam around her body. He caressed her hips, fondled her breasts and tweaked her nipples. He loved the reaction he got from that, her eyes bulged and she thrusted her hips up into Naruto's and let out one of the sexiest moans Naruto had ever heard. Moving his hand down between their hips, he rubbed at the warm moist spot between her legs.

She thrust her hips into his fingers trying to get more friction, but Naruto pulled back. She let out a sound of disappointment and began to protest but that quickly turned into a moan as Naruto kissed her neck, her collarbone, her naval, her hips, and finally placing her mouth where she really wanted it. He licked at the wetness, tasting her in all her glory, she was delicious. He sucked like he was starving, she squirmed and moaned and pulled on his hair as she finally began to feel her climax coming.

"Oh God!" She screamed, "Don't st-op!" She rocked her hips as she went into a daze, overpowered by the bliss that her orgasm caused. It felt like it lasted hours, it was definitely the best she ever had. Naruto pulled back up and kissed her again, on the lips. She could still feel the bulge in his pants, reaching down she began to unbuckle him and pull his pants off. "Do you have a condom?"

He reached into his bedside table and pulled out the gold foil. He smiled and she couldn't help but smirk when she saw his goofy grin. After that, the night went by in a blur, Naruto never did learn her name that night, he remembers the sensations she made him fell, the clenching of her moist walls around him, hugging him, making him release and listening to her sexy moaning and his grunting. It was damn good sex. He remembers pulling out and laying next to her in bed, knowing that when he wakes up in the morning she will be gone, never to be seen by him again. After all, this was just a one night stand. A one night stand with a beautiful, dangerous, and seductive woman.

Sleeping that night was easier than it had been in months for Naruto. He didn't get nightmares, he didn't dream of saving the one person he really wanted to save, he didn't dream about losing those close to him. For once, in what felt like an eternity, Naruto slept peacefully. He didn't dream. And when he woke in the morning, he was right. The woman was gone, the place she slept the night before was cold, it was like she had never been there at all. And Naruto wondered if maybe, she never was and it was just a figment of his imagination.

"Uzumaki!" Tsunade yelled for him when he got to work, "Come to my office."

Poking his head in through the door, Naruto saw a person sitting in one of the plush chairs facing the chiefs desk. "I want you to meet your new partner. I hope you like her because you'll be spending a lot of time together from now on trying to solve this case."

The girl turned around and smiled at him, light blue eyes met with widening porcelain blue eyes. Blonde hair, creamy white skin, perfect hour glass figure, pink glossed lips.

It was the girl from last night.

"Hi." She smiled as if she didn't even recognize him from last night, "I'm Ino Yamanaka. I'm sure it will be a pleasure working with you."


	2. The Cafe in Kusa

**The Cafe in Kusa**

"Alright, Naruto, she's beautiful. So stop staring and get in here, already." The Chief was mocking him, of course she didn't know why he was completely stunned, it wasn't because she was beautiful, or even the fact that they slept together, it was because she was probably a couple rankings under him. Thus making him her boss and sleeping with your subordinates is highly against protocol. Naruto wasn't even here for a full day yet and he was already bending and breaking the rules.

Clearing his throat, he took a seat next to Ino, across from the chief. "This case isn't looking so hot, Uzumaki. My guys have been working on it since it started and we still have jack shit. But you're the shiny new guy with a spotless record and everyone wants a piece of you. So now, all heads are turned towards you to figure it out. I'm tired of losing cops to this psycho. Don't let us down."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm going to do everything i can to take down this guy."

"Good. You're excused. Please take Ms. Yamanaka with you."

After exiting the police station and getting into Naruto's car, he turned to Ino and asked: "What rank are you?"

"I'm a corporal. About last night-"

Naruto cut her off before she could say what she thought about the night they shared, "Last night didn't happen. Look, I'm your boss. We didn't know at the time, but we should still act as if it didn't happen."

Ino sighed and nodded her head, "Where do you want to start? Questioning? Looking for clues?"

"We're going to a small cafe up in Kusagakure. It's where the first victim was killed."

"Kusa? I've never been there. It's 30 miles west, right? Grass Country."

"Yes. It's a lot smaller of a town than Konaha. Think small to the point that everyone knows each other and their business."

"Oh, have you been there?"

"You could say that." Naruto grimaced.

The rest of the drive was quiet, with Ino consistently throwing glaces over at Naruto. It was odd, the man had three horizontal scars across both of his cheeks.

Arriving at the cafe, Naruto stepped out of the car into the warm morning sunshine. There wasn't a lot of people around, everyone was probably still asleep in their beds, exactly where Naruto wanted to be at the moment.

"Hey, Naruto?" Ino asked. Naruto 'hmmped' and Ino continued, "Why'd you choose to start with Sakura Haruno's death? I mean, she was murdered four months ago. Wouldn't it be easier to start with, i don't know, a more recent victim? Like Noah Fairweather?"

"Ino, can you name all the victims so far?"

"Sakura Haruno. Kobe Natsumi. Miles Parks. Austen Hadaway. And Noah Fairweather."

"Good. You did your homework. Now, what do all these people have in common?" Naruto looked at her expectantly.

"They were all police officers. What about it?"

"Anything else? Any other clues as to why they were killed?" Ino shook her her head. "Exactly. We have nothing to connect these murders. If we were to go to a more recent one, how are we going to know what we're looking for? Or how to connect it to the other deaths? In order to find the end, we have to start at the beginning. And Sakura was the beginning."

Entering the cafe, the two women inside cried with delight, "Naruto Uzumaki?! Is that you?!"

"Naruto?" Ino asked, "You know these women?"

Choosing to ignore Ino's question, he smiled brightly at the two elderly women, "Granny Tracy! Granny Rose! Long time, no see, huh?"

One of the old women, she had gray hair rolled into a bun, pink cheeks, and large spectacles in front of her eyes, smacked Naruto upside the head. "I told you, young man, I'm not that old! Stop calling us granny!" Naruto just laughed and rubbed the back of his head like it was a regular occurrence for him. "Now come on, child. Show us who you brought. Tracy, go make some tea and grab some of the cookies. We can talk like we used to, Naruto. Oh! How all of us have missed you. I'm sure everyone would love to see you again. Stay a while, you can stay in a room at mine and Tracy's place."

"I can't stay here anymore, granny." Naruto smiled sadly. "You know why. But I'm here on business. Would you mind if i questioned you and Granny Tracy about Sakura Haruno's death?"

Rose drew in a huge breath as if Naruto had spoken of Satan himself. "Naruto, are you sure?"

"Let's keep it strictly business, please."

Rose sighed as Tracy was returning from the kitchen, she carried a try of cookies in one hand and a tray with four tea cups and a tea pot in the other. "Alright," she smiled, "What did i miss?"

"Trace, Naruto is here to ask us about Sakura Haruno's murder." Tracy's eyes widen slightly but she keeps her mouth closed. "Alright, Naruto, where to begin?"

"Begin from the beginning. Begin from before Sakura and I showed up."

"Woah!" Ino interrupted, "What do you mean 'Sakura and I'. You knew the victim?!"

"Yes. Save your questions for later, Ino. What kind of day was it? What happened that day?"

"Honestly, Naruto, I'm sure you already know all of this. You asked a million times before leaving, you did everything you could for three months to figure out what happened and why. You know better than i do." Rose answered.

"This time," Naruto sighed, "It's for the books. I'm here officially this time."

"Oh Naruto," Tracy whispered, "It was a sunny day, like usual. I don't remember anything weird going on that day. It was the usual customers coming in. We had maybe three new people enter for breakfast before hitting the road again. Then you and Sakura showed up, laughing and smiling like you two always were. You know the rest."

"That can't be it. There has to be something we're missing." Naruto was talking to himself now, "The new people, could you describe them to me?"

"Naruto..." Ino said, "If that's all they know, then maybe we should look for clues somewhere else."

"No!" He shouted, standing from his chair, he pointed towards a table in front of the main window, "She died, right there, Ino! Someone shot her and killed her. They shot through the glass and the bullet entered her heart. She died moments after. They scoped her, possibly from just across the street. Maybe from the hotel. I'm missing something, in a town like this, we don't get outsiders often. So I'd like to know about them. Dammit! I'd like to know anything i can to put her to rest!"

"Naruto," Granny Tracy, "They were very nice people. One was a common girl, visiting a family member. She stopped in to pick up some breakfast. Another a young man like yourself, wearing a green shirt who only passed through on his way to Konoha. And the last was an old man and his grandson. They weren't the people who killed Sakura. I'm so sorry child. Please, Sakura wouldn't want you to be miserable like this. Move on with life. Please, you've hurt enough."

"Not until i solve this case," he whimpered, "I was assigned to it anyways. Thank you, both of you, for your help. It was really nice seeing you both again, but I've got a hotel calling my name."

"Be safe Naruto. You're welcome home anytime." Rose smiled sadly as the young man walked towards the door. "If we remember anything, we'll let you know."

Ino smiled at both the elderly women, "It was really nice to meet the two of you. I hope we meet again someday." And with that, she followed her partner out the door.

Making their way across the street and towards the comfy looking hotel, Ino nudged Naruto's arm. "What?" he asked.

"Don't what me? What was all that? You knew those people and the victim? And you were there the day she died? Why isn't that in the file?"

"I used to live here, Ino. Drop it. It doesn't matter. And there's a lot of blanks in the file. The file only states that she was murdered from a bullet to the heart. Whoever came here to investigate sure did a shitty job."

"So what happened that day then? Sorry if it's personal, but it's needed information. Let me help, I've got a trick or two up my sleeve."

"We came in for breakfast. I left to use the restroom and before i even got halfway i heard a gun shot, turning around I saw Sakura falling to the floor and blood slowly began to pool out of her chest. She was dead only a couple seconds after i reached her. That's it."

"I'm sorry for your loss. We should check the 12th floor. The bullet was a .338 Lapua Magnum, right? Meaning a Longbow T-76. Using the trajectory of the shot, it would've been shot from about the 12th floor. Meaning the murderer is also a sniper making our job a lot more dangerous."

"Good thinking, Yamanaka." walking up to receptionist, Naruto made small talk and walked back to Ino with a white sheet. "Here, it's a list of everyone that checked in the day Sakura was killed. start with 12th floor, room 13L. Ill be in room 14L"

Ino could honestly admit she didn't like the elevator ride. It was covered in mirrors so no matter where she looked, she couldn't stop herself from looking at Naruto. His perfectly tanned skin, white teeth, golden blond hair, and well built body. She knew the abs that he kept hidden under that nice white shirt and tie. His hair was slightly ruffled from him running his hand through it so much, a trait she couldn't help but notice that he did when deep in thought. She was curious though, about the three matching scars he had on each cheek. She'll have to ask about it sometime later in the future.

To say Ino was the only that couldn't keep her eyes to herself, would be a lie. He felt guilty. Guilty for sleeping with her, guilty for finding her beautiful, and most of all, guilty that he doesn't feel more guilty about it. She was wearing a tight fitting dress, white blouse and pink pencil skirt that went to her middle thighs. She also had black high heels and a long hanging necklace with a golden heart. Her skin was creamy and her face natural with minimum makeup. Only those delicious glossy pink lips-

 _'No! Naruto, you're her boss. Start thinking with your head. And make sure it's the head above the waistline._ '

"Naruto?" She asked almost shyly, "How do you know Sakura? I mean, from the way you were acting it almost seemed as if..." she trailed off.

Naruto closed his eyes. This was also why he couldn't be with Ino. He really didn't like talking about Sakura. "We grew up together. I grew up here, in Kusa. And we were best friends. We i ran away in the ninth grade, she was there to bring me back and make sure i was okay. When i did stupid things, like thinking i could fly when i was five, she ran to get help because i broke my arm jumping out of our tree house. She was always taking care of me, no matter what, we were best friends. And then, when i decided i wanted to be a cop, she followed me to police academy, because she, too, wanted to be a cop.

We knew each other better than anyone else. Probably better than we even knew ourselves. So when we were in college, before academy, when i decided i had fallen in love with her, she had already known. She had already decided years ago that she loved me too. She was my fiance, we were due to get married three days after she died. May 17th. 'Save the date' all that wedding shit i was constantly teasing her about, she loved it. She was an excellent cop. She would've been an excellent wife and mother too. That's how i know her. She was the love of my life."

Ino let out a huge breath that she hadn't even known she was holding.

* * *

 **I just want to say thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. It means a lot to me and i appreciate the words of encouragement.**

 **NarutoHatake-Uchiha: That's the thing about cliches, they're cliches because they work. Thank you for the honesty. And i hope you enjoy the story.**


	3. The Investigation

**The Investigation**

"Clear. Nothing here." Ino spoke into the small communicator Naruto made her take. It plugged into her ear and she only had to press a button to talk, it was used specifically for undercover cops because up close it looks like a pair of earbuds and you can't even see it from a distance.

"And you checked everywhere?" Came the hoarse reply.

"Yes. We're on the right floor but this isn't the right room. The guy wouldn't have even had a clear shot from this room. The garbage can is blocking the path the bullet would have taken."

"Move on to the next room."

"Naruto, who's to say we're even going to find anything here. The guy could've completely erased any evidence that he was here. We might as well be chasing a ghost."

"Or not. I found something. Room 17L."

Ino made her way from her half of the building into room 17L, Naruto was kneeling in front of the window, a small golden bullet in his gloved hand. Looking out the window, Ino saw a clear path to the cafe. "It's a .308 winchester. Meaning a different gun." he sighed.

"We should take it back to H.Q. Have it analyzed, maybe there's fingerprints on it."

"No. This guy's good, I doubt they'd be stupid enough to leave something as trivial as fingerprints behind. But maybe- Ino! Look out!" all of a sudden Naruto jumped from his spot onto Ino, shielding her body as the window shattered, glass raining down on them.

"Oh my god!" Ino screamed, "Naruto! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me! Take cover!" Naruto moved from on top of her and stood at the side of the window, out of sight of whoever was shooting at them. Ino quickly recovered and moved to the other side. She was a cop too, dammit! ' _Get it together, Yamanaka'_

Peering his head around the corner, Naruto looked outside. Nothing. Dammit. He scanned the area for any sort of movement, then he saw it. The glint of a gun as the sun reflected of it.

And he moved his head just in time for a bullet to fly by where it just was. "Ino, I saw him. I'm going for it. Stay here." She began to protest but Naruto cut her off, "That's an order. I need you to distract him. So you staying here is crucial to my plan. But don't get yourself killed. Occasionally shoot at him, but stay covered.

He's hiding across the street in the supermarket. Meaning there's probably hostages. We need to do this quickly. So don't shoot blind, make sure it's him you're shooting at."

"Got it." she said.

And with the nod of his head, Naruto was out of the room. He made his way downstairs, and out the back door. If he went through the front, the shooter would surely know he was coming. He would see him and Naruto would get himself killed. He heard a couple shots as he made his way out of the hotel.

The back of the hotel exits into an alley straight across from the supermarket, crouching and moving slowly, Naruto came to a stop at the front of the alley. He stayed hidden behind a couple of stray crates and tried to get a look into the supermarket.

He saw him, the man was completely covered, he had a black hat on with a ski masked pulled up ending directly under his eyes, a black turtle shirt with matching black pants and black boots. If Naruto didn't know better he'd have to say he was a Gothic having a bad day.

Naruto has been waiting for this day for months, now the moment's really here. He can finally avenge Sakura and stop this man from hurting anyone else. Aiming his pistol, Naruto shot directly at the man's head, but he was fast. A little too fast. He dodged out of the way before Naruto could even blink.

His speed was unreal. ' _Shit._ ' The man turned and ran, moving from his position Naruto took off after him. After all this time, he wasn't getting away. Naruto couldn't let him. The man ran to the end of the block and turned right, the next thing Naruto knew a white van was speeding out of where the man just turned.

Naruto jumped out of the way in time for a dozen bullets to be shot at where he was just standing, getting up quickly he took cover behind a small trash can and shot at the van, hoping to hit a tire or the gas tank. Anything to stop the vehicle.

"Fuck!" He yelled when he could no longer see the van. "God dammit!"

"Naruto!" he turned quickly just in time to be embraced by a shaking Ino. "God Naruto! I saw you go down. Right after the van pulled out, i saw them shoot and you disappeared. I thought they got you."

"I'm alright. No worried." he said as he pulled back to look into her eyes.

"You're bleeding. Your arm and forehead."

"I probably got those cuts when the window shattered. I'm okay. Now, we need to go check and see if anyone was in the supermarket." he said as he turned and headed back in the direction of the store. "You should've done that before coming to find me."

"I thought you got shot, asshole!" she yelled at him. "Of course coming to make sure you were safe was a priority. You don't always need to be the hero!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I saw your record, okay? All the times you've been put in the hospital because you sacrificed yourself on a mission, does that ring a bell? You're going to get yourself killed if you're not more careful."

He turned to her, "Your priority is the civilians. I can take care of myself. Next time, make sure the civilians are okay first. That's an order, Yamanaka. Got it?"

She gritted her teeth but nodded. Moving past the man she called her boss, she made her way into the supermarket. The place looked almost empty. That is until she heard a small cry. "Hello?"

"We're here to help." Naruto called, "The man that was shooting is gone. We're the police. You can come out now, you're safe."

A small child came out from one of the aisles with a older woman attached to her hand. "He's gone?" she asked. Naruto nodded his head. The woman burst into tears of joy as she cried, "Thank god! I thought he was going to hurt my daughter. He came in yelling at us not to move and I thought he was going to kill us.

We we're so scared! We hid and then he started shooting." Ino moved closer to the woman to console her, grabbing her hand, she encouraged the woman to take deep breaths. "I own this store. It just happened so fast."

"It's going to be okay, ma'am. He gone now." Ino cooed.

"Sarah. Her name is Sarah, and that's her daughter, Katie. Sarah, where's Tim? Your husband, is he at home?"

Sarah looked up in surprise, then her eyes widened, "Naruto? You came home?"

"I'm here on business."

She walked over to Naruto and hugged him. "I'm so sorry." she whispered.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the shooter?" he cleared his throat. "Any characteristics? Features? Anything that might help."

"He was covered in all black. But I'd say he was about 5'7", parts of his hair stuck out under his hat, he had black hair, and his eyes were black too. He was slim, and really fast. That's all i can tell you, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Go home Sarah, I'm sorry this happened."

"Come on Katie, let's go see daddy." Katie let go of Ino's hand, who knows when she grabbed onto it in the first place, and ran to grab her mothers instead. Walking out the door, Sarah uttered four words that Ino was pretty sure had a double meaning; "It's not your fault, Naruto."

* * *

"So you weren't kidding when you said everyone in that town knows each other, huh?" Ino said an hour later as they were in Naruto's car heading back to H.Q. "So, that's really where you grew up? It doesn't seem like the kind of place I pictured you coming from."

He gave her a questioning look, "What do you mean by that?"

She scrunched up her brows in thought, "It's just, everyone there seems really nice and gentle. And you? You're kind of cold and distant."

"I'm not cold or distant." He protested.

"Yes you are. You didn't even give me a heads up about that place. I didn't know you grew up there, i didn't know you were engaged to the first victim, hell i barely know anything about you. We're supposed to be partners in this, i need to know things like that."

"I didn't think it was relevant."

"Naruto, any bit of information, no matter how tiny, is relevant with this case."

He grimaced and focused back on his driving. "You know," Ino said after a couple minutes of awkward silence, "I was curious, how did you get the scars on your face?"

"You just don't know when to stop asking questions, do you?" He rolled his eyes.

She smiled, "It's what makes me a good cop."

"Touché." He laughed, and Ino couldn't help but think that was a beautiful sound, "A bad case. Everyone gets those, the ones you don't want to talk about. The ones that leave you with nightmares for months. The ones that are so bad that they pull you off active duty for a while and do multiple psych evaluations. It was a really bad case."

"Jesus," Ino whispered, "that's terrible. What happened?"

"It was a drug related crime, I was only twenty-two at the time, there was three civilians dead by the end of it and one cop. It was just supposed to be a quick, in and out thing. We had back up all around, twenty of our men and there was supposed to be only twelve of theirs. It was a five story warehouse, completely abandoned and withered looking. Only six of us went in, including myself, Sakura, my best friend Sasuke, a friend named Lee, some guy named Sai, and Miles Parks, the third victim. But we were ambushed. It happened so fast, one minute we were just scanning around the place, the next it was a full out gun fight.

Somewhere along the way, Lee and I got separated from the others. We ended up on the fifth floor, I'm not sure if the back up had made it's way in the building by now, I'm sure it had, but it was too late. I was jumped and this guy was screaming in my face something about a virus? I don't know, but he said he was going to show my true colors and he made these scars in my face. Lee was dealing with another guy at the time so I did what I had to do, I killed the man on top of me. That was the first time i ever shot someone. He fell off me and i went to help Lee.

The man saw me coming and he ran, Lee was hanging off the railing in the warehouse, five fucking stories high, i grabbed his hand and tried to pull him back up, but it wasn't enough. Lee fell. After that, I don't think I was ever the same again."

Ino's mouth was open, eyes wide, "What happened to Lee? Did he...?"

"He was declared dead. But the weird thing is, we never found a body. It's like he just disappeared along with all those men that night. That was the worst night of my life, until recently when Sakura was murdered."

"I'm so sorry, Naruto."

"Don't be. It's not like you killed them. Let's just get this bullet analyzed."

"What happened after?"

"His funeral was held, close friends and family only. It was his foster dad, myself, Sakura, and Austen Hadaway that attended."

"Austen Hadaway? Where have i heard that name before?"

"He was the fourth victim."

Something suddenly clicked in Ino's head, "Wait... Naruto, was Austen Hadaway a part of this case?"

"Yes. Why?" He asked wondering what she was getting at.

"Sakura, Miles Parks, and Austen Hadaway. All a part of this case with the drug dealers that got away and they were all victims."

"Oh my god!" He slammed on the breaks, "Ino! You're a fucking genius. Kobe Natsumi and Noah Fairweather were also there! They were backup!"

"Warn me next time you slam on the goddamn breaks, Naruto! Jesus Christ!" she said while rubbing her head which had hit the dash board.

"We need to talk to chief Tsunade. Now. Because if this guy is killing people that were a part of that case, then there's ten more people out there on this guy's hit list."

 _'And I'm one of them.'_

* * *

"Chief Tsunade," Naruto said as he sat in the chair opposite of her desk, Ino next to him "We think that the drug case from 2012 might have something to do with the murders happening now. All the victims so far, were a part of that case."

"Okay. So what exactly are you asking for, Uzumaki?" Tsunade questioned.

"I want unlimited access to the files from that case. And anything else I might find useful."

Tsunade took a moment to consider it, "Okay. Deal. Shizune!"

A young woman with short black hair stuck her head in the door, "Yes, chief?"

"Get Uzumaki and his partner here all the files they want. Follow her, she'll take you to where we keep all the old files."

Naruto nodded his head, "Thank you." Standing up, he followed Shizune out the door with Ino close on his heels. They walked farther down the hall and turned right into a large room full of filing cabinets.

"Alright," Shizune said, "It's all yours. Whatever you need, please just make sure to return it to its original spot when you're done." She turned and walked back down the hall.

"Ino," Naruto smiled, "did I tell you how much of a genius you are?"

She smiled back at him and laughed, "I believe so, but i don't mind hearing it again."

He turned and looked down the long aisles of files, they seemed to be labeled by year, and then by date. Moving to 2012, he looked around until he spotted it. July 19, 2012. The day Lee was killed and those men got away. "I found them."

He pulled out a dusty box and moved to the lone table that was in the room, scanning through all the he could fell a headache coming on. Ino sat next to him and grabbed the other half. Naruto has no clue how long they sat there, reading over everything, but it felt like an eternity. "Find anything?" she asked?

"Not really, but i made a list of every cop that was involved. I also made a list of some of the drug dealers that were there."

Ino glanced at the paper, "I guess we should make some phone calls, huh? Try and warn these people."

"I guess it's about time I called Sasuke anyways. It's been a while. This isn't exactly the first thing I want to talk to him about for the first time in years, though. Well, our friendship was always kind of interesting."

"Naruto?" Ino looked at him, "I'm glad that i got assigned to this case with you. It beats all the boring stuff I was doing previously."

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm trying to say: you're not alone. You know that, right? I know this case is personal for you, but I'm here for you."

"You're right. It is personal. That's why I need to solve it. I'm going to go make those calls."

Ino nodded her head and watched Naruto walk out the door.

When Naruto came back, Ino had her head laying in her arms, fast asleep. Looking at the watch on his wrist, Naruto noted that it was nearly 11. _'She's kind of cute when she's sleeping.'_ He shook her shoulder gently and whispered in her ear, "Ino, wake up. It's time to leave. I'll tell you about the calls tomorrow."

"No. I'm tired." she moaned falling back asleep.

Naruto picked her up bridal style and thought, _'only one thing left to do.'._ With that, he left the police station.

* * *

 **A/N: I just want to say thank you to everyone that Favorited, followed, or reviewed. Your guys encouragement is amazing and I'm so grateful for it. Thank you! Please, follow, favorite, and review. :)**


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